Alright lol... So I know this is a bit late but I finally finished the alternator replacement for my car. Even though I was pretty broke the last few paychecks I pony'd up and mad a small sacrifice to not have to see my car sitting there collecting dust. Installed the alternator. I was pretty rough in the begining with regards to actually getting to the bolts I needed to get to, and after about 3 hours of searching for enough light, removing bolts in the most odd places, many drops of oil and collant to the face, and 2 trips to pep boys for the right tools, the alternator was out and ready to be rebuilt.

I took it to Valley Alternators in Winnetka, off of Saticoy and Winnetka in the San Fernando Valley. The owner was really curteous and turn a bad situation into somthing awesome. He was able to rebuild my 180AMP Bosch alternator for 300 minus giving me 50 bucks for the alternator that I bought previous (air cooled, and wrong). I spent more on it, but I was happy to get rid of it because I had no use for it.

For anyone who says that the fan shrowd doesn't need to be removed, I have no idea how you would get that alternator out of there without removing it, it was a tight fit even with it off. I didnt completely remove the active stabilizer bar, I just removed the left side and tied it up to one of the other componants just to make sure it didnt go down too far. Just like everyone says, the 2 bolts attached to the bottom of the alterator that hod the pulley place was the absolute worst part of this job. ratchet wrenches helped a lot, for the most part once they were loosened, I did it with my fingers so it was fairly simple (if you got fat fingers there's no way though).

Felt good being able to save like a 1600 off what the dealer quoted me and even 1k less than what the indy shop quoted me. I wont say any names because they've taken care of me in the past and maybe they just don't specialize in that type of repair and quoted me a price that they were comfortable with.

Either way, job done. It was an easy fix now that I look back on it. Thinking I'm ready to tackle some more challenging fixes at this point. maybe once I get a little more money i'll take care of the left side timing cover gasket (have a small seap).

Couldn't have done any of that stuff without all your help. It's awesome that everyone helps eachother on here and lends their expert advice. I am forever thankfull because 1600 dollars is something I didnt have.